The Beacon that Guides US

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When John Adams passed through the arched gatehouse of St James’s Palace and bowed three times as he approached the King of England, he was deeply moved. For Adams was being “ushered into the presence” of the King as the first minister plenipotentiary of the newly independent United States of America at the end of a conflict in which the new ambassador had risked his all.

The King, too, was shaking with emotion. Before him was a man who had once called him a “tyrant”, and had judged him “unfit to be the ruler of a free people”. During the